Wednesday, September 17, 2014

Lincoln's First Day of (Homeschool) Preschool

As a homeschooling graduate, I've been kind of thrilled about the idea of homeschooling my own kids for as long as I can remember. Being a second generation homeschool family is cool, you guys. But I have to admit: even the idea of being organized enough to do school every single day scares me to death.

I wasn't really sure if I would manage to get my act together to start preschool at home this fall, but I told Andrew I was thinking about it and the amazing man spent a couple of weeks getting everything together for me. Best homeschooling dad ever. Clearly. We are using the brilliant, free ABC Jesus Loves Me preschool curriculum. Lincoln will be doing year 3. Addie is not "officially" participating in preschool, but since she is with us all the time, we're certainly not going to keep her from picking up some knowledge along the way.

So, on Monday of this week, we took the plunge and started our preschool - and homeschooling - journey!

Lincoln was beyond excited. He had watched the stacks of papers and books gather, and knew that we had been working on reorganizing the office "for school." He jumped up on Monday morning and said "today we do school in your OFFICE?!!?!"

He even cooperated for the photo shoot, which says a lot.

Miss Addie was far more interested in gathering rocks and sticks and rose petals than sitting nicely for a photo for mommy. She also did not want to go inside to the preschool room and sat down on the driveway in refusal. Less than awesome defiance from this one.

Yup, I'm the mom who made my kids wear bibs to color with markers.No way that dress of Addie's (brand new) was getting christened in purple.

Our day got off to a fun start when they tore into the brand new package of markers and tried to color everything in sight. We managed to keep it contained to their papers and the art table, thankfully.

As for the rest of preschool.... Well, we'll just say there's probably a learning curve. Lincoln spent a lot of time wailing because I insisted on helping him use scissors (he's only touched them a couple times before in his life). Addie fussed because she couldn't pull papers down off the door. No one wanted to sing the song of the week and getting them to repeat the Bible verse (Genesis 1:1) was like pulling teeth.

But we made it through. They listened to me read Five Little Ducks whether they wanted to or not, heard the song, and eventually (for a sticker) repeated the verse.

All in all, I'm not expecting this first week to be remarkable. Our curriculum is for three days each week, so technically today is another preschool day. So far, I'm not motivated to make it happen, but we also have a ton of errands to run this morning - maybe the afternoon will be inspirational. Or maybe I'll just let Daddy do it when he gets home - because on Monday night, everyone cooperated with him! Song singing, verse saying, and book reading was all a game when Daddy was home. What's up with that, offspring?

First draft of our sticker reward chart, made hastily while everyone fussed at me.

So far, I can confidently say that Lincoln is learning the days of the week and he could probably recite Genesis 1:1 if he were so inclined. It's not much, but I'll take it.

How did your kids like their first week of preschool - whether at home or at school?